House price question

[xmyboys]

We have looked at a property this week. Listed £430,000.
Previous sale was Oct 2010 sold for £390,000. From photos of earlier sale it doesn't look like they have done any major renovations since they have owned it.
Is this price too high in this Market?

hello Becarooooooooo :) Best of luck with the move x

Yes, that all sounds perfectly logical mylovelymonster - but ultimately it's a property MARKET. There are a selection of properties on offer, and a buyer will select from those available according to that which it believes represents best value for money and best satisfies their requirements.

I agree that it's highly unlikely a property was bought below market value - but if the market will support a price rise over a year, and they are capable of getting an offer for it at that price, then it's IRRELEVANT whether or not they paid a lot less for it a year ago. You can bleat all you like at the vendor that you don't think they deserve to get it at that price, and you may be right - but if they get an offer for it then equally you have been proved wrong by the market. We put ours back on the market a year later at 65k more than the offer we got for it a year ago, at the EA's recommendation. Within two weeks we'd had a satisfactory offer, because obviously those people looking deemed it good enough value for money.

Hi MLM

Thanks for the good wishes...solicitor is now on 2 weeks annual leave and his secretary is off today, so we havent exchanged yet!

Buyers I know of late, if they manage to get offers accepted at all, are getting them accepted for 8-30% below "asking"; so yes, OP, I think that 430k is pie in the sky thinking.

I agree ragged - but expect that the vendors have put it on at that price expecting not to get AP.

Who's bleating at vendors? Buyers usually just stay clear and take their money elsewhere if negotiations are unsuccessful, no? All buyers are different, all vendors are different, all houses are different, and all asking prices are different.
It all comes down to the deal and coming to terms.
An obviously overpriced house is a good laugh though. Best of luck.

Wow, how chippy do you sound, exactly? How on earth would you have the remotest clue as to whether my house is overpriced? Prices in London continue to rise, does that irk you? I'd get over it if I were you.

We are in the process of buying a house for which we offered the asking price. Why - especially since we are in a strong no chain position? Great location, great plot with lots of potential and most importantedly, it was priced competitively in the first place. Yes, it needs a complete refurb but we feel we got a fair deal. We were not the only asking price offers on the table after only one weekend on the market....thank god, it didn't go to sealed bids! A neighbouring house with modern decor on the same road is unsold but is is asking for £175K more! The refurb won't be costing us the difference and we would be getting what we want. So, if you are priced well, you will achieve asking price or close to it and sell quickly!

Completely agree myron. The one we're buying we got at v close to the asking price and were one of three bidders prepared to buy at that level. As you say, the house seems/ed worth it to us, we completely fell in love with it. All houses and sales are different, my only point from earlier was that it is irrelevant to compare one point in time with another because the only thing that matters is what it's worth NOW.

London is down 1.6% in the last month - Land Registry figures today.

Mylovelymonster - we asked them to justify it. They could have said "we were very lucky to get it at the price we did" or whatever, as part of their justification. They could have said "we believe that is the fair price for the current area based on our research of x, x, and x." We actually thought it was worth about 10k more than they paid, based on our research. To pay an extra 65k seemed to us madness. We asked the question to learn something, they gave us nothing that reassured us that our reckongings were wrong.

As it is, we are paying 60k less than they asked for a house that is superior in many ways. They are still on the market.

I have no idea of the overall (although London's so diverse not sure it means much to lump it together) but our house is in one of the 'cheaper' central areas, so continues to rise as it still offers excellent value in terms of a 10 minute commute to London Bridge. Anyway, this is a digression... the bottom line is that it's impossible for anyone on this thread to tell whether a property is overpriced unless they know the relevant market.

londonlottie - I apologise if you thought I was commenting on your house. I would do no such thing. We can disagree as much as you like, but I would never wish anyone ill in as stressful a situation as house selling/buying.

Londonmumsie - great result! Many happy years in your new home

To be fair, the new place needs a lot done. But in the future, if potential buyers say "why does it cost x more than you paid" we will have plenty of evidence.

..but most importantly, you get to make it your own, and you'll enjoy that.

Am enjoying it already! Even if some of the "making it my own" has involved whacking out great loads of damaged plaster!!

In fact, I found the single most depressing thing about the market in our part of London the number of properties which had been wrecked by developers - updated, but to such a poor standard that you'd want to do it all again, but wouldn't have the money to as you'd have already paid top dollar for their (window-dressing) efforts.

I agree with that LondonMumsie - it just smacks of greed too, that they think they can refurb a place with the cheapest, lacking-in-any-individuality fittings, thinking they are appealing to everyone (when in fact I think they appeal to almost no-one).

Thanks for clarifying mylovelymonster - I thought it was a bit harsh to wish me ill with my forthcoming house purchase/sale. I have to say I'm already having heart palpitations at what's to come and don't think I can take any more stress...

So they have only been in the house a year. Is it a forced sale? A house isn't always worth what someone paid for it. Sometimes people have to sell for what they can get to avoid mortgage debt. Prices cannot continue going up if the local jobs market is contracting and first time buyers cannot afford deposits. Price is very dependent on the location. £430 000 would be a silly price round here. Zoopla is quite a good site for price information.

www.economist.com/node/21540231
An analysis in a non sensationalist journal that says UK houses are overvalued by around 25%